The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Powers, Hon. Charles
Powers, Hon. Charles, M.L.A., was born in North Brisbane in 1853, and educated at the Ipswich and Brisbane Grammar Schools. He was admitted a solicitor in 1876, and in 1881 was elected alderman of Maryborough and mayor in 1883. In 1886 Mr. Powers became a member of the Burrum Divisional Board, and assisted largely in developing the Burrum coalfields and the northern coal trade. In 1887 he went to London and formed the Isis Investment Company. He was elected member of the Legislative Assembly for the Burrum District at the general election in 1888, and was appointed a member of the Morehead Ministry, without portfolio, on Sept. 20th, 1889. On Nov. 19th in the same year he succeeded Mr. Donaldson as Postmaster-General and Secretary for Public Instruction, resigning with his colleagues in August 1890, previous to which he represented Queensland at the Intercolonial Postal Conference held at Adelaide.